Dear beautiful/bountiful black men,
Charles: I know you’re exhausted. Every single day that you walk this earth you are faced with an exponential amount of obstacles. You are the most misunderstood and feared individuals in this country, even though this country was built on your backs. You are seen as an enemy in a place that you should call home, but we know that this place will never be home.
Khadijah: My beautiful black brethren words can’t explain how empathic I am for your constant victimization. In our society, we have a tendency to focus on the reform of how other minorities are treated and overlook our fathers, our husbands, our brothers, our sons, our uncles, our nephews, our cousins and our friends. I love you and all that you do. Whose duty is it to protect the protector, whose job is it to manage the management, and whose task is it to love the lovers. As a cogent Black woman, I am aware of the injustice you face not limited to police brutality, misconstrued appearances, difficulty finding a job with a degree, and accelerated rates of incarceration of your own kind. Like brother Langston Hughes said in “Mother to Son,” "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, and splinters.” and with the recent events life isn’t getting easier.
Charles: My brothas, don’t you dare let society dictate what you can become and what you will achieve. Break every chain of prejudice and discrimination and let those that doubt you and discredit you be put to a silent shame by your success. Show the world we are much more than microphone wielders and acrobats on the basketball court. We are capable of achieving any and everything regardless of the fact that we are expected to be uneducated, expected to be violent, and expected to be unsuccessful. All of these doubts stacked against us, but like Sister Angelou eloquently said long ago, “still we rise” and we will continue to rise because the resilience and strength that is imbedded in the spiritual foundation of the Black man is unprecedented, unshakeable, and unapologetic. We are referred to as an “endangered species” in this nation, but we all know that is a lie. Endangered species are protected by the law, but we are hunted by the ones who are supposed to uphold it. The face of oppression that persecuted our grandfathers has replaced his white hood with a uniform and a badge. There is no justice, it is just us, but the latter is the better option. My brothas there is still work to be done, that will never be completed, but together we are as strong as the history who makes us who we are. We are still as regal as the kings of our father nations and still as strong as the rebels who freed plantations. Your blackness is seen as a stain to society, but wear it as a badge of honor because regardless of what this world will try to take from you, your blackness and every entity within it, will last for an eternity.
Khadijah: Absorb their lies and inhale their misconceptions, but don’t let them hold you down. We were held down for too long, allow their ignorant and privileged opinions be the seeds of your growth. Your strength is innumerable and your intrepidity is out of this world. Don’t allow the media to determine who you are. Whether you are a “classic man” or “N.W.A.,” your success can never be calculated by your physical appearance, only your determination to educate yourself and your people.
"When the Black man is allowed to grow, the world will know but when the Black man demands to grow, the growth of the world will show.” (Khadijah Akeem)
With love from your brother and your sister,
Charles Evans and Khadijah Akeem
